Ecological production of food and textiles has now left its initial stage in which it experimented with production techniques, elaborated standards and regulations, local and international trade started, and obstacles and contradictions began to appear on the way to growth.

This is the reason why the subject of the conference is : ORGANIC AGRICULTURE : CREDIBILITY FOR THE XXI CENTURY. The aim is to look back at previous achievements up to date and to prepare ourselves to meet the real challenges we are facing: work for food security with methods that benefit the environment and human health, hoping that these attitudes are reflected in the way we carry our business, in how we associate with each other, and how we relate with the various traditions and cultures of the world.

The fact that the Conference will be taking place in Latin America is in itself a signal: in most Latin-American countries there is an intensification of agricultural activities that stimulates the use of polluting inputs, neglects the advance of rampant erosion and deforestation and overlooks the constant decay of biodiversity. For that very reason, organic production must be credible for producers, in order to propose a satisfactory alternative when they still have a choice between production systems. Organic agriculture must also be credible for the general public, increasingly mislead by the use of the very trendy term "ecological" which can become nothing but an empty slogan. Finally, it must be credible for the farmers of our countries, who leave the land and flock around the cities driven by the lack of economical prospects, caught between the destruction of their traditional environment and the decreasing need for labour due to the automation agriculture.

For all these reasons it is most urgent to discuss the Credibility of Organic Agriculture, as the 21^st century is about begin.